Giant Mushroom To Celebrate New Year In Pennsylvania Town, Kennett Square

When the ball drops in Times Square on New Year’s Day, the town of Kennett Square will be ringing in 2014 with a giant mushroom.

The Pennsylvania town will be lowering a 700-pound stainless steel mushroom to count down the New Year. Nicknamed the mushroom capital of the world for its area farms that produce the majority of mushroom across the U.S. – the town will see the giant fungus drop at midnight, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

"Being the mushroom capital of the world, I don't know, why not," Kathi Lafferty, coordinator of the annual Mushroom Festival, which draws up to 100,000 people on Labor Day weekend each year, said.

The mushroom is more than 7 feet wide, 8 feet tall and cost $6,000 to make, Lafferty said. It will be dropped at the finale of the “Midnight in the Square” event held on New Year’s Eve.

Kennett Square, a borough 25 miles west of Philadelphia, is known for its fertile, fungus-friendly soil. The region produces more than 11 million pounds of mushrooms a week, which is celebrated annually with a Mushroom Festival.

And Kennett Square won’t be the only town hosting an unusual New Year celebrations. In Bethlehem, Pa., an 85-pound statue of a Marshmallow Peep will be lowered. In Easton, Pa., a 10-foot tall Crayon will be dropped. Outside of Pennsylvania, everything from a 35-foot tall orange to an 8-foot sardine and an 80-pound piece of Styrofoam are dropped in towns across the United States.

The town of Perry, Ga., plans on dropping a buzzard in honor of the annual buzzard migration there.

“New York City may host the Apple Drop ... and Georgia’s own Atlanta will host the pride of the Peach State’s Peach Drop,” Faircloth told the Macon Telegraph. “However, here in Perry, we were thinking of something more original.”

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